EDs go west… eventually

A series of technical issues hit UK Railtours’ trip to Paignton, but the Class 73s made it there in the end.

Problems with the braking equipment of GBRf electro-diesels Nos. 73962 and 73963 resulted in UK Railtours’ ‘Herd of Wildebeeste’ getting off to a false start on July 16.

The fault resulted in the inbound empty stock working to Waterloo, where the train was meant to begin, being two-and-a-half hours late, so the decision was made to start the tour at Basingstoke instead.

With the two ‘73/9s’ leading, and Nos. 73128 and 73107 on the rear, the tour finally left Basingstoke at 09.35 against a booked time of 09.17.

Read more in the latest edition of RE